In an untimely black eye for the dove team, peace activists Scott Ritter and Jim McDermott (US Rep, WA-07) have been caught in embarrassing situation involving funds received from Shakir al-Khafaji, a Michigan businessman of Iraqi extraction. Turns out the funds in question were skimmed from the UN oil-for-food program, with direct (and documented) collusion between Saddam Hussein and Khafaji.
A Seattle Times opinion column lashed out at Ritter yesterday. Today's news brings McDermott into the loop. (Earlier FT and WSJ reporting/commentary pulled at the loose threads, making eventual disclosure inevitable.)
Full disclosure -- I like both these guys, but the peace movement needs this like Bill needed Monica.
Ritter relied on FBI vetting of Khajafi before accepting his sponsorship, but the Saddam relationship was not known at the time (nor was the extent of Iraq oil skimming and kickback corruption).
In an ironic twist, the money went to McDermott's legal defense fund against a lawsuit by Ohio Rep John Boehner. Boehner sued in reaction to McDermott's 1996 leak of a purloined tape in which Republicans conspired to circumvent Newt Gingrich's House Ethics Committee plea bargain. The resulting brouhaha effectively shut down the Ethics process from that day forward.
McDermott is my congressman -- an eccentric, to be sure, a crusader, and one with occasional inexplicable bad judgment. Now the Seattle Times -- the more conservative of our two major dailies -- is on a crusade of its own.
Bears watching. Hawks watching too, looking to move in and lick the bones clean.